In Zambia we were working for a man named Collins who was working with Campus Crusade. Part of what he did was to work with students that were athletes in the colleges and universities in Lusaka. Well, if you are an athlete in the heart of Africa, odds are that you play football. Where I am from, football is the hard-hitting game that on the 2nd of February everybody from my wonderful state of Colorado completely forgot how to play. But in Africa, that game that I grew up playing is called American football and football is the sport that many of my friends and I foolishly made fun of… soccer. Being someone that grew up playing soccer, our contact Collins would watch it on the television at the house we were staying at and every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of this commercial that began by describing the culture of Africa. It would start by saying something like “Africa has 57 countries.” Then it would say that they have countless tribes and languages. But then at the end it would come up in big bold letters and say “But one language is spoken by ALL… and that language is FOOTBALL.”
At the time I didn’t really understand the significance of this commercial and what it could possibly mean to me. It wasn’t until I got to Senga Bay, Malawi and met Liz Cloutier that I really understood how this information could be used to glorify God. You see, Liz was a world racer. But before she went on the race, she was a soccer player for the University of Akron and had the opportunity to play professional soccer after graduation. But after the race, she felt the call to come to Africa and use soccer as a conduit to preach the gospel. Just like the infrastructure of the Greek language allowed the early church to spread around the known world, she is looking as soccer to be that infrastructure for the gospel to spread in Africa. Soccer can be the common ground amongst a continent with countless different cultures and religions.
Liz has the dream of holding soccer tournaments throughout Africa. With each tournament the winner will have the opportunity to move on to a bigger tournament with better competition. They will first play in their village or city, and if they win then they will move onto a country- wide tournament. Then if they win that, they will finally have the opportunity to play against multiple countries in a tournament in South Africa. But the big thing is that inside each of these tournaments the people running them will have time to share the gospel. They use a special ball called the living ball. What is so special about this ball is that it has colors on it that help explain the gospel.
Black- that we are all lost in sin (Romans 3:23)
Red- by His blood we are redeemed (John 3:16)
White- that we are filled with the Spirit and cleansed by Christ (Hebrews 12:14)
Green- that we are continually growing in Christ (Ephesians 4:15)
Using this ball gives workers at each tournament multiple opportunities to have conversations about the love of Christ and each person’s need for Him in their lives. Along with playing with that ball for the whole tournament, each winning team and second place team gets a living ball to take with them to use to practice for future tournaments. This is a huge deal. Most of the teams here don’t actually get to use a real soccer ball. Most of them have to make their own ball using an ingenious combination of a rock, plastic bags, and twine; so being able to give them a ball to use speaks volumes into each person’s life. Not only did someone who was preaching the truth give them the ball, but they were also given a ball that actually represents the truth.
In Malawi I had the opportunity to be a part of one of these tournaments. Eight of my squad mates and I were on a team in charge of coordinating a soccer tournament in Senga Bay. We were in charge of finding a field, making goals, finding teams, and scheduling games and jobs for our entire squad on the day of the tournament. We had everything planned and ready to go, including goals built out of trees, for the second Saturday we were there when something happened. Someone in the community had passed away and their funeral was that day. In the culture there, when someone dies the whole village must be quiet for the day and a member from every family had to be a part of the funeral. So out of respect we cancelled the tournament and planned it for another day.
Thru prayer, our leaders felt as though they were told the tournament was meant to be rescheduled for Thursday. We were told by some that this was not going to be a good day to have it because Saturday was the day the people play soccer, and during the week everybody was going to be working and no one would be able to come and play. Nonetheless we had faith that our leaders heard correctly, and we planned for a tournament on Thursday. Despite what we were told, 12 teams came and played. Over 300 people from the community were present when we were sharing the Gospel. Thru the use of the living ball I was given the opportunity to share the Gospel to the teams, and time was taken during the day for a minister from the Bible school to preach to the teams and the community. Also, with each team a world racer was assigned to just show them love and be with them for the day, to build relationships and have conversations that were centered on the love of Christ.
Not only was the tournament a success, but the truth was spread and trust was built between the community and the ministry there. All this was done using a soccer ball. The whole experience made me think of what Paul said in I Corinthians 9:22 ”…I have become all things to all people, that by all things I might save some.” In this life I never would have expected to use soccer as a way to reach people with the gospel. But here, in Africa, I have been called to become whatever I need to be to show the gospel effectively and in Senga Bay that meant to become a soccer tournament planner.
Please pray for the growth of the soccer ministry in southern Africa. Pray that leaders will come to help Liz and will help her to realize her dream for this ministry. Soccer is a language that everyone in Africa speaks and God can do mighty things thru using soccer as a conduit for the truth.
XXX
